


Sweep, Stir, Sew

by Redrikki



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Attempted Kidnapping, Family Feels, Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Parenthood, Red Lotus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-22
Updated: 2014-08-22
Packaged: 2018-02-13 22:39:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2167818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redrikki/pseuds/Redrikki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When your daughter is the Avatar, motherhood is an exercise in letting go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweep, Stir, Sew

Korra comes charging headfirst into the world on a wave of blood and amniotic fluid. Most people do, but it seems to Senna that her daughter is in an awfully big hurry to be born. Her labor is over before Tonraq can even return with the midwife. Senna barely has to push before her baby slips free and is gone.

*****

Korra blows through the house like a storm. She skips from crawling directly to running full tilt without ever slowing down. Some days Senna feels like there’s no hope of keeping her out of trouble and then, as if being a two-year-old isn't bad enough, she starts bending. She happily splashes water everywhere before Senna manages to get her to stay still long enough for a lesson.

"Watch," Senna says, gracefully sweeping her arms in, out and back again. It's a move known as 'stirring the pot' and it makes their dinner, cooking over the fire, dance with her movements. "Flow like the water. Give and take. Push and pull."

“Push and pull,” they chant together as they slowly, gently, flow through the simple drill. The contents of the pot bubbles and swirls, filling the house with the comforting smell of sea prune stew.

The next day, Tonraq teaches Korra how to throw a punch and she loses any interest in her mother’s gentler lessons.

*****

Korra wakes up screaming for the tenth time in as many nights. "Don't let them get me," she cries.

"Never," Senna promises, clutching her daughter tight. After the attack last week, they both need some hugs and comfort.

Zaheer and his followers had come for Korra like a horrible nightmare of the Hundred Years War. The earth shook and then melted into a fiery slush, vaporizing the snow. The combustion bender's blast had knocked Senna flat. She looked up to see the four of them appearing from the mist like spirits. "Give us the Avatar and no one will be hurt."

"Not going to happen," Tonraq growled, sinking into a fighting stance. "Senna, run!"

Senna scooped up her daughter as the world dissolved into chaos. She dodged explosions and chunks of burning rocks while Tonraq and the other men covered their escape. Senna ran stumbling out into the tundra, floundering through heavy drifts. Out of sight of the battle, she hid, cocooning them both in a blanket of snow. They waited, shivering, for the fight to be over.

Senna has dreamed about it every night since. She’d probably wake up screaming too if Korra didn't keep beating her to it.

“We can’t protect her,” Tonraq says quietly when Senna lies back down beside him. Korra calmed down fairly quickly and is already back asleep. Between her nightmares and his own, Tonraq looks haggard. They both do. "We got lucky this time."

Senna shudders. If Tenzin, Chief Sokka and Lord Zuko hadn't been there it would have ended very differently. "This time," she agrees. The four would-be kidnappers had been captured, but there were so many unanswered questions. The White Lotus had kept Korra's name out of the press, so how had they known it? Why had they come for her? Had they acted alone or were they just the tip of a larger, more terrifying, iceberg? Who would come after her daughter tomorrow and could Senna and Tonraq ever hope to protect her?

“The White Lotus wants to build a compound," Tonraq says. "Somewhere they can train her and keep her safe.”

Senna rolls over to study her husband's face. His voice is level but his eyes are pleading. "You think it's a good idea," she accuses.

"I do," he says simply. "They'll build it nearby and we can all live there."

Senna turns away. She had known that duty would take Korra away since the first time she earthbent. After all, the Avatar belongs to the world. Senna just thought they had more time together. "I don't want to lose our daughter."

"We wont," Tonraq promises, taking her hand.

Senna doesn't like it, but better to give Korra to people they trust than let her be taken away by kidnappers. The next day, the White Lotus begins to construct their fortress.

*****

Korra is so busy with her studies at the White Lotus compound Senna barely sees her. Senna herself does the same thing she would have done at home. She cooks, cleans and works on a new parka for her daughter. Senna shares her trick of bending dyes with her new friends among the White Lotus guards. Across the compound, Korra is learning combat bending instead, but that's alright. The domestic arts aren't of much use to an Avatar anyway.

Meals are one of the few times they have together as a family. Bending is hard work so Senna lays every table with lots of Southern comfort food. She makes seal kabobs and five spice soup, seaweed noodles and sweet cakes with whale blubber. In between bites, Korra talks excitedly about her lessons. She loves training with Master Katara and she loves it here. Senna does too. The compound is everything the White Lotus promised and more.

And then, suddenly, it isn't. "We need you to leave," Korra's new earthbending master says. She is a tall, powerfully built woman who always seems to be looking down.

"What?" growls Tonraq, his hand curling into fists.

Senna rests her hand on his arm until his fists unclench. "Why?" she asks.

"To properly study earthbending," the master explains, "Korra must be immersed in Earth Kingdom culture. Normally, she would travel to the Earth Kingdom but..."

Senna nods. Normally the Avatar would travel. Normally the Avatar would have started her training later in life. Normally she wouldn't have a group of lunatics out to kidnap her. In the normal course of things, it would be Korra who leaves, but now it must be them. Korra can't be immersed in the Earth Kingdom with her Water Tribe parents making Water Tribe food and telling Water Tribe bedtime stories.

The earthbender's face softens. "I'm sorry," she says. "You can still visit her."

They can and they do. It doesn't make leaving any easier.

*****

Korra comes in the dead of night to say she is running away to Republic City. Senna doesn't try to talk her out of it. "We love you so much," she reminds her instead and gives her one long, last hug. Sending her off into the world is easier than Senna thought it would be. She’s had a lot of practice at letting go.

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from "Oh Mama No" by Vienna Teng.


End file.
